Back-band hook.



W. D. COUCH.

BACK BAND HOOK. APPLICATION mgu mavz. 19w.

Patented Dec. 31, 1918.

m: noun rllnu co. Pnmunm. vasnnduyou. p c

WALTER D. COUCH, or ATLANTA,

TATS

GEORGIA, ASSIGNOR TO COUCH BROTHERS MANU- FACTURING 00., OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA; A CORPORATION OF GEORGIA.

BACK-BAND HOOK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 2, 1917. SerialNo. 165,923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known. that I, WALTER D. COUCH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Atlanta, Fulton county, State of Georgia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Back-Band Hooks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to buckles, particularly to buckles having hooks connected therewith and which are adapted to be used with back bands, being known as back band hooks.

The hook member of the back band hook' is designed to support the middle portion of a trace chain to prevent its sagging, and the buckle member provides an adjustable means of attaching the hook to the back band so that the height of the chain may be re ulated at will.

lify invention provides a strong hook for supporting the chain and a simple and efficient buckle to which the hook is connected, which permits the same to be readily adjusted and which grips the back band more securely and with less injury to the fabric when under strain, than devices of this class heretofore suggested.

The invention will be clearly disclosed in the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a front view of my improved buckle attached to a back band;

Fig. 2 is a front view of the separated members of the buckle, and

Fig. 3 is a section along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

The base portion 10 of the buckle and the bar 11 are of metal, preferably stampings from sheet metal, the base portion being of thicker material than the bar because of the greater strain to which it is subjected. That portion of the base plate 10 which, together with the bar 11, compri es the buckle proper, has the shape of a narrow rectangle, and is provided with two longitudinal parallel slots 12 and 13 of such length and width that the back band may be easily passed through. At the ends of the rib 14 between the slots 12 and 13 are hooks 1515, preferably punched up from the material of the base 10 and extending around and over the ends of the bar 11 to prevent its separation from the base, although allowing it to have a considerable play relatively thereto. 7

' A tongue 16 projecting laterally rectangular portion of the base member 10 supports the trace chain hook 17. This hook is integral with the tongue and has its free end in the plane of the base member at or near the center of an opening 18 in the tongue which is considerably wider than the hook itself. This arrangement allows the link of a chain to he slipped over the hook,1on which it is then held, with but little danger of its coming ofi.

The bar 11 is rectangular in shape, being equal in length to the slots 12, 13 and having a width approximately equal to the distance between the outer longitudinal edges of the slots, measured by a line perpendicular to these edges.

Projections 19, 19 and 20, 20 at the corners of the bar 11 form stops which, in connection with the hooks 15, 15, against which they are adapted to abut, limit the sidcwise movement of the bar 11 relatively to the base member 10. The projections 19, 19 have lateral extensions which assist in preventing excessive tilting of the bar when the buckle is in use.

\Vhen the buckle is attached to a back band the latter passes from the back of the same through the slot 12, around the bar 11, and back through the slot 13, as is clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 3. When weight is put on the hook the pull of the band tends to tilt the bar up around its upper edge and to drag it through the slot 12. The hooks 15, 15 and the extensions on the projections 19, 19 limit this tilting, the latter by bearing on the base plate 10 in advance of the upper edge of the bar 11. Naturally, the longer the extensions, the smaller the angle through which the bar may be tilted.

Being thus unable to tilt more than a few degrees, the pull of the band on the lower edge of the bar forces the upper edge against the fabric to frictionally engage it. As shown clearly in Fig. 3, the band makes a reverse curve over the edge of slot 13 and around the lower edge of bar 11. This reverse curve formation causes the lower edge of the bar 11 to engage the band with a great amount of friction when weight is placed on the hook. The buckle in this from the nannert grips the-"band with a firm, even- V grip andinisuoh acway that thefgreater -tlieo pull on the hook the tighter thewgripnof,

the buckle on the band becomes. To change the "position w of t the band, for ih'st'ance, to raise 1t,

12 from back to front of the buckle, and

this surplus or loop thus formed; in; front is taken up by drawing it through the slot 13 from front to back. The-bar-I Ihis of course sufficient play under the hooks 15,

15150 allow 'the"fabric topass freelyrbetweeh the base 1'0 and tlie-ed es' of theb'ar l lfin 'making'the adjustment.

' The buckl'e above des'ribed' is light n ing a'ction of" teeth;

I the fabric of the "band to the' 'harinful tea-i Although I have describedfrny iav iifin,

on the desired length. of band is passed through the;-- s1otin as use {as aback band-hookit may ohviously' b'ei-used in" other ways; for ijnstancempon suspenders.

, H i u s =ri theiin en en, Wha is 'olaiined and desired b'j Let ters Patent is? a A buokle including in combination, a bar, a body portion formed to have a band passed therethrough looped around the bar andback through the portion, said bar beiiigsilbstan tially oblong i-n plan,' the narrow ends each formed with a notch, said body portion having upstanding hooks meta-spasmjin pne ofsaid noteh'es-"fand obns'tr'uotedto limit 

